Red Sox rally to down Astros in opener of 4-game series

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BOSTON — The Astros let a lead disintegrate in a plodding 53-pitch sixth inning Thursday night, when the Red Sox looked less like the disappointment of 2014 and a lot more like the team that won it all a year ago.

The once promising night turned into a 9-4 loss in the opener of a four-game series at Fenway Park, the start of a 10-game, three-city road trip. Astros starter Scott Feldman was protecting a 4-1 lead when the bottom of the sixth began. Twelve batters later, seven runs had scored.

“He was in complete command of the game up until the sixth,” manager Bo Porter said. “They just put together some really good at-bats and kept the line moving.”

The Sox (55-65) have won four in a row, while the Astros (50-72) have to wait at least another day to match last year’s win total of 51. They’ve lost two in a row and four of five.

A two-run homer by Matt Dominguez in the fourth inning was the last bright spot for the Astros in Thursday’s series-opening loss to the Red Sox. (AP Photo / Charles Krupa)

Three straight hits for the Sox started the bottom of the sixth. Feldman’s last batter was the seventh of the inning, third baseman Will Middlebrooks, who tied the game at 4 on a bases loaded single with one out.

“I started off the game, I think I was able to throw four pitches for a strike. I don’t know what happened really,” Feldman said. “I think I just started relying just strictly on one pitch. Like I said those guys are too good to do that. You can throw 100 and you only got pitch it usually doesn’t work. Got to work on those for next time.”

On came lefty Darin Downs, who walked his first batter, Jackie Bradley Jr., on six pitches, giving up the lead. Downs faced three batters, the last a Rice University product, Brock Holt, whose double started inning. Holt walked in his second trip, loading the bases for Mike Foltynewicz’s lightning arm with the deficit at 6-4.

Before the game, manager Bo Porter indicated Foltynewicz wouldn’t necessarily be his first choice in a tight situation. When he entered Thursday, he came in with two out and the Astros already down, but two of their greatest players, Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz, were next in line.

“I think it all depends,” Porter said of how he wanted to use Foltynewicz. “If we can pick a spot where we can get him two or three innings, that will be good. I don’t mind using him, you know, in a tight situation. but at this stage of his career, I will not leave him on the field, on the mound, with the game hanging in the balance.

“So I’ll pick spots and try to find the right pocket for him. But at the same time, if he was to run into trouble, I would have one of our veteran guys ready to bail him out. I explained that to him, and I told him, I said, ‘Remember this conversation, because there’s going to come a day when I’m going to (lean on you often and in big moments).’”

Pedroia’s had his best month in August, hitting .333 in the month entering the day. Foltynewicz got ahead 0-2 on consecutive fastballs before Pedroia turned the at-bat in trademarked fashion. Of the next five pitches, three were balls — two of the wasted pitches clocked at 100 mph — and two were fouled off.

The next pitch almost went foul too, but sank directly on the foul-line chalk in right field, a two-run, ground-rule double that grew the lead to 8-4.

Porter said after the game he brought in Foltynewicz because of the strikeout potential.

“Once they go ahead, you know, you look at that situation, you say to yourself, you want the strikeout,” Porter said. “And on top of it, you’re now behind. Once you get out of this inning, he’s in the game until offensively you mount a comeback.”

Ortiz’s groundout ended the inning.

Feldman allowed seven runs in 5 1/3 innings. Red Sox starter Allen Webster allowed three runs in six innings, including a Matt Dominguez two-run homer in the fourth inning. It was his first long ball since July 28 against the A’s.